September 18, 2008

It's Still One Step At A Time

You know that feeling you get when an idea or an action manifests itself into something you just can't ignore? Like, say for instance, when you realize what it is you want to do, or what it must feel like when you have a baby. (No, Dayna and I are not pregnant. Relax...) When something like this happens it seems as if you can actually feel yourself evolving. As if the energy of it is humming in your bones.

Please don't misunderstand me, I still don't really know where I'm going in this life, but I am lucky enough to realize where I've been... isn't that a line in a Bon Jovi song or something? And the past has indefatigably led me to the idea of where I want to be.

I feel like I'm leaving a lot of my past behind. I remember it, I've learned from it, I'm moving past it. Former friendships are slowly drifting away in this sea of change. It seems the new path I'm on has diverged and I must go where I feel I need to be. Some people can't or won't follow. Some people I don't want to. It seems like that is just the way of the things. It's nothing to fret over.

The ideas I have may or may not work out. I don't know anything for sure. But I do know this: it would suck not to try, and holding myself back with petty selfishness, laziness or cowardice is no way to live. I found a quote I like inThe Four-Hour Work Week. (Actually I found a number of quotes I like...) It helps me work through some self-doubt and sideways stares:

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." - Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple Computers

My journey toward my evolution still happens one step at a time, everything that happens along the way elevates my life to a life worth living- whether people agree with me or not- simply because I refuse to stand still.

The air seems fresher when you're moving with a purpose, however ambiguous that purpose may be.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath: Made To StickSmart brothers, classic case studies and sound reasoning. The book just makes sense. (***)

Clotaire Rapaille: The Culture CodeCulture certainly plays a role in what we want and how it should be sold to be successful. And Fortune 500 companies pay Rapaille very well to tell them how. Great insight on the perspective one needs to carry in today's global society. (***)

Seth Godin: The Big MooFun book. Short, poignant stories of success. Reminder that being remarkable and being perfect are vastly separate entities. (***)

Required Reading (As I See It)

Bruce Lee: Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom For Daily LivingSimple. Profound. Striking. All from a man who died at 32. (****)

Ernest Hemingway: To Have And Have NotThe guy's a master. This is my current favorite selection. (****)

Harper Lee: To Kill A MockingbirdTwo words: Atticus. Finch. (****)

Marcus Aurelius: MeditationsHow many times do you get to crawl inside the head of a Roman emperor? (***)

Stephen F. Kaufman: The Book of Five RingsMiyamoto Musashi was the baddest philosopher/samurai that ever lived. He served no master but himself. The Book of Five Rings is his definitive strategy on proper living. (****)

Jon Krakauer: Into The WildI read this book before it was "cool". Great investigative reporting regarding one of life's most epic searches for "the truth". (****)

Neil Strauss: Motley Crue: the dirtRampant destruction in the name of greed, lust and arrogance. You will feel dirty after reading this book. (***)

Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four AgreementsLive life better. We all need to be reminded how. Some of us need to be shown. (***)

Dante: The InfernoThe classic treatise on the damned. I could think of people who need to re-read this in today's world. (****)

David Rensin: All For A Few Perfect WavesA series of interviews, from the men and women who paved the first roads of modern surfing, concerning the enigmatic life and times of surfing's legendary genius and consummate asshole Miki Dora. I'm still not sure what to make of Da Cat. (***)